Chelsea 3-1 Southampton: Mourinho debunks Saints’ tactics as Chelsea search for consistency

Chelsea came back from a goal down and a sub-standard first half performance to clinch a tie which held reasonable amount of significance. Mourinho’s unbeaten home record with Chelsea was facing the dark side and John Terry’s 400th Premier League appearance was going to end on a sad note. But, that had to wait for another day, as a resolute Chelsea fought back on all fronts to claim full three points at the Bridge. Jose Mourinho’s tactical answer to the Saints’ overwhelming exploits against big teams this season proved too much for Pochettino and Co. as they couldn’t extend their dominating first half display into the second.

Essien starts, gifts a goal, and fails to impress

In the light of fixture congestion and the need to play 9 matches in December, Mourinho was forced to rotate his midfield. Mikel and Lampard were benched, and Essien was brought in to partner Ramires in mid. This was the first league start for the Ghanian and it will be a one to forget for him as it was one of his worst performance till date. A series of mistakes and a blatant dive were enough to convince the manager to bring him off at half time.

Jay Rodriguez opened the scoring for the visitors with one of the fastest goals in the league, shooting past Cech, 14 seconds into the match. Essien was the culprit as he didn’t put enough weight on his back pass to Cech and Rodriguez reacted earlier than any other player on the pitch, dashed past Terry and Cahill, and left Cech grasping thin air, as the ball sailed into the net. This immediately put the pressure on the home team as they were facing the prospect of scoring against the best defence in the league this season.

The Saints’ players exploited a rusty Essien by pressing him hard and in numbers, forcing the Ghanian into committing mistakes. The once best midfielder in England gave the ball away on many occasions and was forcing Ramires to work overtime. The final straw in his performance came in the form of a dive and a consequent yellow card from ref Micheal Oliver. With all odds stacked against him, it looked very much unlikely for him to come out to play in the second half with Mourinho in charge. As expected, Demba Ba came on for Essien at half time.

Saints press high, Chelsea forced into passes

The one thing Southampton have been doing right this season, is their defencive organization. Victor Wanyama took a few games to adapt to the system, and has been effective alongside the tackle master Morgan Schneiderlin since then. Both the midfielders provide good cover for their defence, when their fullbacks bomb forward. In this match, a young Southampton side, pressed the opposition defenders and didn’t allow them any time on the ball. This forced Chelsea into quick passes, most of which didn’t reach the recipient.

Also, the constant high line and pressing, forced the Chelsea players to play long balls behind Fonte and Lovren. The duo was comfortable with such balls, as there was no focal point at which those passes were aimed. Torres was looking to play more on the ground than fly into aerial duels. The possession and passing play of Chelsea wasn’t working either, as they were getting squeezed into a narrow zone and crowded out. The only width Chelsea offered was from their fullbacks, whom Clyne and Shaw covered with ease.

From the charts, we can observe that more than 15% of Chelsea’s passes in the first half were long balls and of them, less than 50% were successful. But it was all not going south for Mourinho’s team. They were still in the game with few decent chances on goal, Torres forcing Boruc into an acrobatic save being one of the events. Also, Chelsea were not allowing Southampton to get anywhere near their D box. Both fullbacks Ivanovic and Azpilicueta stayed in their half and defended the threats from Shaw and Clyne. The following charts indicate how ineffective Southampton were in creating chances in the whole match. Or rather, how good Chelsea’s defencive setup was.

Southampton’s one shot on target in the whole game is a testament to the superiority shown by the back line of Chelsea after the initial early goal. One can also attribute this to the lack of creativity on part of Southampton in the attacking third. Their major source of key passes, the fullbacks were well contained by Ivanovic and Azpilicueta. With both teams defending with organized shapes, much of the game was played in the central areas with one team outwitting the other for brief periods, taking turns.

Mourinho changes the shape from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2

Oscar came off in the first half after an ankle complaint, Lampard replaced him. Micheal Essien, who had a forgettable half was replaced by Demba Ba at half time. Chelsea shifted to a 4-4-2 formation. The shape change meant that Hazard and Mata were playing as wingers, with Torres and Ba upfront. Initially, this move looked like a suicide mission, as it surrendered whatever dominance Chelsea had in the middle of the pitch. Lampard and Ramires were up against Ward-Prowse, Schneiderlin and Wanyama. But the tactical change from Mourinho turned out to be a masterstroke.

The visitors were tested very few times in wide areas in the first half, as the dynamic trio of Mata, Hazard and Oscar prefer to play in close proximity. This pretty much made defending easier for centerbacks, Lovren and Fonte. Also, in the first half, one of Lovren and Fonte was always free to receive the ball in space as Torres was the only forward player, pressing any one of the defenders. Now, with the introduction of Ba, both the defenders were occupied. Ba offered a proper target for Cech and Co. to aim their long balls at from the back, and Ba was also making runs behind the high line of Southampton. This ensured the saints’ defenders had no time on the ball and had a strong player to deal with at all times.

Also, another knock-on effect of having two strikers upfront was, the supply of passes from the back into the midfield took a hit for the visitors. As a result, the Chelsea midfielders now had ample time to press Wanyama and Schneiderlin. Long balls were the only option for Saints and those were easy to handle for Cahill and Terry, as Osvaldo didn’t pose much of an aerial threat. The change in formation, saw Mata and Hazard positioned on the flanks. This became the pivotal aspect in the shift of dominance in favor of Chelsea. Luke Shaw and Nathaniel Clyne were directly dealing with the trickery of Hazard and Mata, and there were the Chelsea fullbacks who were offering overloads, quite often.

Torres was in Hassle mode and Fonte felt the heat big time.

When Chelsea didn’t have the ball, Mata and Hazard stayed narrow and helped their midfield by retaining the numbers and keeping men behind the ball. Southampton couldn’t exploit the extra man they had in midfield, as they were hassled by both Ba and Torres simultaneously. The only player to have remotely posed any threat around the Chelsea box was Jay Rodriguez. The following heat map, shows how less the Southampton players ventured into the Chelsea half in the second 45 minutes.

Chelsea players put in a spirited shift

The halftime talk from the manager surely spurred the Chelsea players, and they looked a different side with every player having their say in the match. Juan Mata, Ramires, Torres and Ivanovic were miles ahead in terms of match performance. Mata racked up two assists to his name and displayed his physical side of the game which is a rarity, as he took on players and flew into tackles. Ramires worked like an untiring engine for the whole 90 minutes. The Brazilian had to cover for a poor Essien in the first half, and had to deal with the 3 v 2 situation in the mid in 2nd half. Even after that much of running for 90 minutes, he still had the stamina to dart past 4 players and provide an accurate cross for Demba Ba to seal the game.

Fernando Torres, who came back from injury worked his socks off for the whole of the time he was on the pitch. His willingness to drop deep to collect the ball and spread the play, the take-on’s from deep positions and being accurate in the box were some of the qualities that were on show from the Spaniard. Branislav Ivanovic, who came under serious scrutiny from the Chelsea supporters for his low standard performances previously, had a good game. Luke Shaw seemed a minorthreat in terms of physicality and Jay Rodriguez played centrally for most of the time. This allowed the Serbian to attack on the right flank in the second half. His discipline on that flank in first half, kept the Saints’ wingers quiet and proved instrumental in nullifying the crossing rate.

The Goals

Surprisingly, both the Chelsea goals in the span of 7 minutes, came from set piece situations. The scorers being the two centerbacks, Cahill and Terry. One has to observe that, the extreme Chelsea pressure on Southampton defence resulted in the set pieces. And again, surprisingly, Southampton conceded from corners, which is a rare occurrence, given their record of not allowing such goals for a lot of matches till this one. Pochettino’s changes didn’t have any significant impact, as Chelsea looked destined to get all 3 points. Demba Ba added the icing on the cake, with a late goal, after Ramires fended off 4 successive challenges to provide an assist. The following chart shows the source of shots on goal from both teams. Chelsea had more shots inside the D than the visitors.

It was a game of two halves. Chelsea came back at Southampton in the second half with a formation which was the one they set out to demolish back in 2004. 4-4-2 helped Mourinho counter an organized Saints side, but it might not be the answer to his best XI and improved consistency. After all, having a side playing 3 different formations with varying tactics always inclines towards a positive development. Consistency will be the only agenda for Chelsea now, as they try to use the depth they possess to tackle the hard winter months. But, Jose Mourinho will be pondering on his midfield options after the Essien no-show, and December might be the period where the loss of Van Ginkel to injury could prove to be costly. As far as Pochettino is concerned, the successive league defeats to the top 2 sides in the table will not be a big dent in achieving their objectives. They have made up points elsewhere, and will continue to do so.